I've been hearing a lot about how powerful the Stormbolter is, magnified by special ammunition. This got me thinking about a quick way to change the stormbolter without totally destroying it.

I propose that instead of 2 hits per DoS, up to RoFx2, the stormbolter gets 1 hit per DoS up to RoFx2. You get the same number of potential hits, but it should bring average damage down to more manageable levels.

DJSunhammer said:

I think there are some old threads in this under this very forum heading.

Personally I use the alternate weapon rules in the errata, so I haven't had much trouble. The fact the weapon does +1 hit per TWO DoS because it's only semi-auto nerfs it quite a bit. I also figure if a player pays the same cost for it as they would for a HB they're not really getting away with anything. In addition, each success by the enemy dodges two hits from a weapon with the storm quality.

That said, simply increasing the ROF and removing the storm quality would probably work just as well.

That's a good point, I wonder why they even bothered to add the Storm quality as is. Would have been simpler to just double the RoF of a bolter and say the Storm quality doubles ammo consumption.

DJSunhammer said:

It also wouldn't have produced the same intended result - double the listed RoF, and you increase the potential number of hits only, without significantly influencing the actual number of hits (which is reliant far more on accuracy than anything else - if you only hit with 3 Degrees of Success, it doesn't matter whether your gun fired five shots or five hundred... you've still only hit four times). Essentially, a Stormbolter without the Storm quality but with a doubled RoF instead... is just a bolter that can potentially hit a couple more times if you're lucky, really good at shooting or happen to be attacking a Squiggoth at Point Blank Range.